“You deserve to see your loved ones suffer and die. But, maybe, you would be hurt before them,” was part of a threatening message received by a staff member at ‘Al-Mezan’, a Gaza-based human rights group.

The photo attached to the email was of the exterior of the activist’s home. The gist of the message: ‘we are coming for you.’

‘Al-Mezan’, along with three other Palestinian rights groups – ‘Al-Haq’, ‘Al Mezan’, ‘Aldameer’ and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights – are actively pushing a case against Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC) accusing it of war crimes in Palestine, particularly during the war on Gaza in 2014.

In April 2015, the Palestinian Authority (PA) had officially signed the Rome Statute and, a few months later in November, the groups presented a substantial amount of evidence of Israel’s suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But even before these dates, the war on independent rights groups was already heating up. Restrictions on Israeli NGOs, especially those that challenge the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, are fairly recent.

However, pressure, violence, restriction on movement, raiding of offices and arrests, have been a fixture of Israeli policy against Palestinian rights groups. The most recent episode is only one example.

“Since September 2015, several of the organizations have faced ruthless smear and intimidation campaigns seeking to discredit them and stoke insecurity among their staff,” Amjad Iraqi wrote in Israel’s +972Mag.

“The harassment culminated in death threats made against two individuals: A senior Palestinian advocate with ‘Al-Mezan’ and Nada Kiswanson, a Palestinian-Swedish lawyer who is Al-Haq’s representative in The Hague.”

Israel is, no doubt, feeling embattled. Its carefully carved brand – that it is an oasis of democracy in an arid authoritarian desert – is now full of holes. Its occupation, wars and siege in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, and the dissemination of images and information about such conduct throughout the internet and social media platforms is making it impossible for Israel to sustain its official hasbara. Thus, the angry backlash.

The Israeli Knesset has been busy passing laws and proposing bills aimed at restricting the work of its own rights groups, or any independent civil society organization that seems, in any way, critical of the government and sympathetic towards the Palestinians.

The ‘NGO Law’ is now in effect. It forces NGOs to declare their sources of funding and punishes those who refrain from doing so. It also levies heavy taxes on such funds, even when declared. The European Union, along with the United States Government warned Israel against such laws, but to no avail.

The bill is written in too broad a terminology, thus making it possible for the government to target such organizations without appearing vindictive or politically-motivated. “What is happening in Israel now is fascism,” said David Tartakover, who was quoted in the British Guardian newspaper.

Tartakover, the artist who designed the logo for the Israeli ‘Peace Now’ campaign in the late 1970’s described ‘a slow creep of limitations’ that began in 1995 (following the assassination of Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, at the hands of a Jewish extremist), but one that accelerated in the last year.

One example includes the “Loyalty in Culture Bill”, which sounds like, according to Michael Griffiths, “something out of Nineteen Eighty-Four.” But it is no fiction. This bill targets artists and authors, and withholds funding from organizations that promote any material deemed objectionable by Israel’s political establishment.

This led to the banning of “Borderlife”, an Israeli novel by Dorit Rabinyan, depicting a love story between a Palestinian man and a Jewish woman. Israel’s Minister of Education, the hardliner, Naftali Bannett, banned the novel on the pretext that it promotes ‘assimilation’ between the races.

With the ‘most rightwing government’ in Israeli’s history now in charge, and an equally hawkish parliament, the foray of contentious bills are likely to continue. However, while Israel’s own organizations, rights groups and dissenting artists are targeted by bans, fines and withholding of funds, Palestinians are threatened with much more severe consequences.

To appreciate this more, one ought to look at the language used by a recent conference organized by Israeli newspaper, ‘Yediot Aharonot’. According to investigative journalist, Richard Silverstein, the conference, which mainly attacked the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) “has become a veritable carnival of hate.”

“Everyone from delusional Hollywood celebrities to cabinet ministers, to the leader of the Opposition have pledged fealty to the cause,” he wrote. Top officials included Intelligence Minister, Israel Katz, who called for the “civil targeted killing” of BDS leaders like Omar Barghouti.

According to Silverstein, the phrase Katz used is “sikul ezrahi memukad” which “derives from the euphemistic Hebrew phrase for the targeted killing of a terrorist, which literally means ‘targeted thwarting’.” Working hand in hand with various western governments, Israel’s official perception of the non-violent BDS movement is reaching the point of treating the civil society movement as if a criminal organization.

BDS merely demands moral and legal accountably from western governments and corporations that contribute in any way to Israel’s violations of human rights and international law.

The recent death threats against rights activists who are pressing for respect of international law and for justice for thousands of Gazan civilians killed during recent wars is a natural progression of Israel’s relentless efforts. While restricting the work of independent rights groups is quite common by Middle Eastern governments, Israel’s campaign is most dangerous for it receives little media coverage and, at times, outright support from the US and other western governments.

The latest of these was the recently passed legislation at the Democratic-led Legislature in the State of New Jersey, which was signed by Governor, Chris Christie. New Jersey is now the latest of US states that outlawed BDS and vowed to punish any company that joins the boycott of Israel campaign. With little or no accountability, Israel will continue with its fight targeting NGOs, threatening activists and restricting the work of anyone that dares to be critical.

“What is happening in Israel now is fascism,” said Tartakover, and he is, of course, right.

Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.

The Yesha Council is in the final planning stages of an Amazon-like website to sell settlement goods abroad along with tours of the West Bank; 'allows us to reach the customer's house abroad without going through the whole route of delegitimization.'

The Yesha ("Judea, Samaria and Gaza") Council intends to soon launch a shopping website to allow consumers to purchase products made in West Bank settlements, including dates, soaps, textiles and prepared foods. This is in part in response to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement.

According to the plan, the new website will use the same software that other leading shopping websites, such as Amazon and eBay, use.

The Yesha Council is promoting the new initiative as a "boycott detour," referring to the BDS movement's calls to boycott the very products that they will offer to sell.

Oded Revivi, the mayor of Efrat and the head of the Yesha Council's foreign desk, is behind the initiative. He commented, "We quickly understood that we have to think outside the box…so we developed this model, which allows us to reach the customer's house abroad without going through the whole route of delegitimization that products from Judea and Samaria go through in the world."

In addition to selling products, it will also sell travel packages to the West Bank. Religious tours will also be offered in an attempt to meet a need for groups that want to visit historical sites and incorporate religious themes, which will include faiths beyond Judaism.

The initiative is currently in the final stages of development. They are currently seeking the seed money to begin operating the site. In the coming weeks, the Yesha Council intends to send invitations for business owners to join the site.

Brussels Airlines, the largest air company in Belgium and an affiliate of Lufthansa, has decided to refrain from serving dessert made in illegal Israeli settlements to passengers aboard its flights.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines stopped handing out Israeli vanilla-flavored snacks on flights following a request by a pro-Palestine group.

The snack is produced in the Barkan industrial park (settlement) in the West Bank on land classified by the international law as "illegally occupied."

The air company justified its decision to remove the snack from its on-board menu by saying it was a controversial product.

"As a company which serves an international audience full of people from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures, it is our responsibility to present products which will be amicable to all, and therefore, we decided to change desserts," the airliner said.

Gilad Paz, a lawyer and human rights activist who supprots the BDS movement against Israel, applied for asylum in Canada on the grounds of 'political persecution'; 'I realized that people like me have no place in the country.'

Gilad Paz, an Israeli citizen and human rights activist who openly supports the Boycotts Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, has applied for asylum in Canada, claiming he was the victim of political persecuted because of his position.

"I am politically persecuted in Israel. I realized that people like me have no place in the country, so I decided to leave before it's too late," Paz said in an interview with Ynet.Upon landing at the airport in Montreal on August 11 Paz, a lawyer dealing with human rights and labor law, immediately submitted a formal request for political asylum. In addition, he was active in the human rights organization Amnesty Israel as well as left-wing political party Meretz.

An independent lawyer, Paz has represented Arab-Israeli clients and Palestinians from the territories.

"I haven't believed in the State of Israel for a long time," said Paz. "I believe that the Zionist idea was a fundamental mistake and we are paying a heavy price for it today. The original sin was the Nakba, and later the despicable occupation of 1967 and the deterioration of the situation. I support BDS because I don't think Israel understands any other language." According to Paz, he decided to leave Israel and apply for asylum in Canada due to pressure from Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri against BDS activists. "I submitted the application as a result of the declaration by Erdan and Deri to deport and refuse entry to BDS activists with foreign citizenship. I decided to turn to Canada because they are the most open to requests for political asylum," explained Paz. "Erdan and Deri don't like people like me as much as they don't like foreigners, but when it comes to a person like me, who is a citizen of Israel by birth, they have a legal problem which makes it difficult for them to deport me by force,” he continued.

"It's been said that people like me will pay the price, and from what I understand by public statements made by the minister, there is now a legal team at the Ministry of Strategic Affairs which is looking for all sorts of ways to hurt people like me legally — whether by criminal or civil methods. I'm very curious, but on the other hand, I am not a masochist. As such, I decided not to wait for Israel to make that decision, but rather took preemptive measures," Paz added.

In his asylum application, Paz claims that he suffered political persecution in Israel because he is a BDS activist and he is afraid to go back to Israel with the current political makeup of the country.

"My family doesn't really accept my decision. They don't hold the same opinions and don't support my agenda," Paz admitted.

Following his request for asylum, Canadian authorities have allowed him to enter the country and set a hearing before a judge at the end of next month. Until then, he is authorized to travel within Canada, but not to leave, as his passport is with local authorities. Addressing the accusation that he is a traitor to his country, Paz replied, "Israel is a democratic country. I am not obliged to adopt the agenda of the State of Israel like some sort of parrot. I understand that there is brainwashing here that the entire world is against us. We all saw the NGO law that targeted friendly countries who support human rights such as the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

Everyone is an anti-Semite, everyone hates us. I am an Israeli that believes there is another way. I left this country and I will only come back when there is a drastic change in policy."

"In many countries around the world boycotting Israel has been outlawed with trangressors facing a steep price to pay, such as commerce penalties. As such, it is obvious that within Israel, there needs to be a cost to the people who slander Israel around the world and support a boycott," the minister added.

Israeli MKs called for ousting Joint List MK Basel Ghattas for his calls to boycott Israel at a conference in Montreal.

Yisrael Beiteinu MK Oded Forer called for sanctioning Ghattas over his calls for a boycott of Israel.

“The theater of the absurd in the Knesset continues and the Joint List continues to prove that its MKs do not belong in the Knesset,” Forer said.

“A member of parliament calling Israel racist and calling upon countries to boycott and sanction it is an unheard of act in any sane country in the world.

It is not only delusional, it is against the law.” Forer said he checked the laws prohibiting action that would harm Israel via boycotts and he intends to ask the finance minister to remove special tax status from any organization connected directly or indirectly to Ghattas.

Lawmaker Ghattas from Balad, one of the four parties that make up the Joint List, called Israel an oppressive, racist and apartheid state.

He said he is pessimistic that there will be peace soon, and international sanctions were the most effective way to combat Israel.

He listed examples of Israeli apartheid practices against Palestinians in Israel, including the confiscation of land in the Galilee and Negev areas.

He said that the Israeli society is now governed by a military and settlement mentality, with political extremism existing not only on a government level but through all parties and institutions that play an important role in shaping policy in Israel.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avi Dichter claimed that “Ghattas is continuing his pattern of being in the Knesset and speaking against it and the democratic values by which it operates.”

Dichter referred to Azmi Bishara, a founder of the Balad Party, claiming that he fled the country while under investigation and calling Bishara Ghattas’s “spiritual father... who betrayed Israel.” “Ghattas is sounding the voice of his master, and could be prophesizing his future in relation to loyalty to the state,” Dichter further alleged.

The city of Berkeley, California, has adopted a resolution to divest from private prison firms, including G4S, a provider of services to Israeli jails where Palestinians are routinely tortured.

In the resolution, approved by the city council on 19 July, Berkeley will be called on to divest from private prison corporations and request that its business partners, including banking giant Wells Fargo, follow suit.

The resolution targets major players in the US’ private prison industry, including the Geo Group, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and G4S.

G4S is one of the largest corporations in the world and provides security services inside US prisons.

It also operates inside Israeli prisons, where Palestinian adults and children are routinely interrogated, tortured and held without charge or trial.

The corporation has been a longtime target of the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign for its involvement in Israel’s military occupation and incarceration systems.

G4S has lost millions of dollars in contracts with businesses, unions and universities, due to the growing boycott campaign. The United Methodist Church and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have also pulled their investments in the company.

Earlier this year, G4S announced it was leaving the Israeli market and selling its Israeli subsidiary, but the corporation has a long track record of breaking promises.

The resolution was introduced to Berkeley city council in June by members of Enlace, an alliance of low-wage worker centers, unions, and community organizations in Mexico and the US, as well as members of the Afrikan Black Coalition (ABC), which represents Black students in the University of California system.

Friends of Sabeel North America, an ecumenical Palestinian rights group, “encouraged the inclusion of G4S in the list of companies” targeted for divestment because of its dual roles in the US and Israel, according to a press release.

“This is a straightforward process that any town can pursue with a strong coalition of concerned community members,” said Rochelle Gause, the group’s national organizer.

The State of New Jersey, in the U.S., on Tuesday, became the tenth state in the nation to implement a law that opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the state of Israel.

According to Israeli daily Haaretz, Governor Chris Christie, flanked by local Jewish community leaders, signed into law a bipartisan measure which prohibits the state from investing in pension and annuity funds that boycott Israel or Israeli businesses.

“Let folks in Israel understand that there still are people in the United States – and people of both parties in this state – who understand that

unequivocal, unashamed, unapologetic support of Israel is a policy of the state of New Jersey,” Christie said at a signing ceremony in Trenton, NJ on Tuesday.

“And it should be the policy of the United State of America, and hopefully will be in the years going forward,” he further stated.

On Friday, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted overwhelmingly — by an estimated 90% — to create an investment screen that would identify and remove the Church’s investments in corporations profiting from Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, and other human rights abuses around the world.

The new screen has a broad reach, ensuring that the Church would avoid investments in corporations currently complicit in human rights violations as part of the Israeli occupation, as well as any future corporations that become complicit.

In addition, the ELCA voted by a margin of 82% — 751 to 162 — calling for an end to unconditional U.S. aid to Israel.

ELCA marks the ninth denomination to engage in economic acts of conscience to support justice for Palestinians, following the Quakers, Mennonite Central Committee, United Methodists, Presbyterians, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalists, Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men, and the Alliance of Baptists.

ELCA voting member Darla Thiele, Dakota name Shining Star Woman, had this to say before the vote:

“As a Native woman, the situation in Palestine reminds me of what my people have gone through here in America. I have seen my people lose our land, our lives, our culture — our songs, dances, spiritual ways. Like the Palestinians, we have no justice. Treaties have been broken… We talk about loving our neighbor. We talk about justice. But where is the justice?… Now is the time for the church to stop profiting from these injustices. Now is the time to bring healing, to bring peace, to bring justice.”